Saint George Maronite Cathedral () is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut,

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

of the city of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Lebanon. Its construction, with a Neoclassical facade, interior and plan inspired by the

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. The largest Marian church in Rome, it is ...

, began in 1884 and ended in 1894. The cathedral was heavily hit and shelled during the

Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

and was plundered and defaced. A number of works of art that were looted have since been recovered, including the famous painting by

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...

representing

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of the cathedral and of the Archdiocese of the city of Beirut. The cathedral was restored after the end of the hostilities and was re-inaugurated by the

Maronite Patriarch This is a list of the Maronite patriarchs of Antioch and all the East, the primate of the Maronite Church, one of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Starting with Paul Peter Massad in 1854, after becoming patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Patriarcha ...

Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir on 24 April 2000.

Construction

Saint George Maronite Cathedral turn of 20th century

The Cathedral of Saint George was built by

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Joseph Debs, the Archbishop of Beirut, on the site of an earlier church that was also dedicated to the same saint. The earlier structure was built in 1755 to serve the Maronites of Beirut. Work began in 1884 using Roman columns from the temple of Deir El Qalaa in Beit Mery. The edifice was completed and consecrated on

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is the Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Its name originates from the palm bran ...

in 1894. Built on the plan of a basilica with its nave and two lateral aisles separated by two rows of columns, the cathedral has a façade of neo-classical style designed by Italian architect Giuseppe Maggiore. The interior bears a general resemblance to that of

Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...

in Rome. The nave is covered with a

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, al ...

ed ceiling with gilded and a double wooden structure, covered with golden leaves on a beige background. The walls are decorated with stucco and marble. Above the main altar is a canopy four columns. At the rear, in the

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

, is the

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

(bishop throne) of the Archbishop of Beirut, and the chair used by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

during his pastoral visit to Lebanon in 1997. orel, Elodie. "The places of worship in Down-Town: a gleam of diversity". iloubnan. Retrieved 2010-01-08./ref>

Architecture

Inspired by the

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

of Santa Maria Maggiore in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Saint George Maronite Cathedral was built between 1884 and 1894, and inaugurated by

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Youssef Debs. Prior to this, the

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

community of

had made use of a small

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

that stood nearby and dated back to 1753. In 1954, engineer Antoun Tabet undertook restoration works inside the

. Originally planned in the shape of a

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

, its transept was shortened and arches added at either end. Badly damaged during the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

(1975–1990), the cathedral was completely rehabilitated by 1997, recovering its original Renaissance cruciform shape. It was inaugurated in April 2000. Beneath the forecourt of the cathedral's annex, significant

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

remains have been unearthed and preserved. They include a Hellenistic structure, part of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Decumanus Maximus In Roman urban planning, a ''decumanus'' was an east–west-oriented road in a Roman city or '' castrum'' (military camp). The main ''decumanus'' of a particular city was the ''decumanus maximus'', or most often simply "the ''decumanus''". In t ...

colonnaded street, and an Ottoman wall. On 19 November 2016, Beirut Archbishop Paul Matar inaugurated the new

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

which took a decade to construct. The campanile stands high; the original design envisaged a tall bell tower to match the height of the campanile of the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome. According to the archbishop, the reduction in the campanile's height to stand equal to that of the

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

s of the adjacent Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque aims to send a message of interfaith solidarity and harmony. On 4 August 2020, the cathedral was damaged in the Beirut explosions that ripped Beirut port. Beirut was a huge chaos back then, which left behind homeless families, scattered houses and unsheltered people. Specifically, the cathedral was highly affected by the blast. Doors and windows were burst and dispersed, stained glass along with their deformed frames were scattered all over the place. The cathedral also suffered from a damaged pitched roof where bricks were broken or misplaced and exposed cracks became visible in beams and marbling paints. The ceiling was also affected where some panels were out of place, suspended mid-air or completely fallen off. Electrical, lighting and sound fixtures were either damaged or disconnected. After the explosion, volunteers took prompt actions such as cleaning the place, mobilizing furniture as well as sorting the damaged elements and organizing the undamaged ones. The renovation process was launched due to the funding of many donors from Lebanon and other countries. Fortunately, despite the endless destructions the cathedral had been struggling with, there is always someone taking care of this historical and spiritual place and bringing back its main significant symbol of the presence of the Maronites in the Capital of Lebanon and their expansion throughout the Lebanese territory.

Location

The Church of Saint George is located in the downtown area of Beirut. It is one of the most important religious buildings of the city. Right next to her is the Sunni Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque. About eighty meters north is the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the

Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch (), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Rum (endonym), Rūm Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (), is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox church within the wider ...

Timeline

* 1884–1894: Construction of the cathedral, which was inspired by the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. * 1954: Restoration works inside the cathedral undertaken by Antoun Tabet. * 1975–1990: Civil War badly damaged the cathedral. * 1997: Post war rehabilitation of the Cathedral led to the recovery of its original Renaissance cruciform shape. Significant archaeological remains were unearthed and preserved. * April 2000: Cathedral inauguration. * 19 November 2016: Campanile inauguration. * 4 August 2020: Beirut explosions damaged the cathedral.

Sources

* Kassir, Samir (2003) Histoire de Beyrouth, Fayard, Paris. , Les lieux de culte au Liban. Ministère du Tourisme, Beyrouth.

References

External links

* https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grabung_arch%C3%A4ologisches_museum_st_georg_beirut.jpg {{Maronite Church Eastern Catholic cathedrals in Lebanon Cathedrals in Beirut Catholic churches in Beirut Churches completed in 1894 1890 architecture 19th-century Maronite Church church buildings Maronite church buildings in Lebanon Maronite cathedrals 1890s establishments in Ottoman Syria 2020 Beirut explosion